Driving-gear for automobiles.



PATENTBD FEB. 17, 1903.

E. RAWS'ON.

DRIVING GEAR FUR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 1902.

2 8HEETSSHEET 1.

H0 MODEL.

WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT Grrrcn].

EDWARD RAVVSON, OF MOSCOW, IDAHO.

'iIJFHVING-GEAR FOR AUTOMOBILES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent-No. 720,987, dated February17, 1903.

Application filed August 1, 19021 T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD RAwsoN, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Moscow, in the county of Latah and State of Idaho, haveinvented a new and Improved Driving-Gear for Automobiles, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improveddriving-gear for automobiles which is simple and durable inconstruction, very efiective in operation, easily manipulated, andarranged to allow the chauffeur to readily throw the driving-gear in orout of action, to change the speed of the vehicle, and reverse and brakethe vehicle without changing the speed of the motor or stopping thesame. V

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations ofthe same, as will be more fully described hereinafter and then pointedout in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement as applied, parts beingin section. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same on the line 2 2of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the improvement. 7

The vehicle on which the improvement is applied consists, essentially,of the usual body A, a front or steering axle B, carrying front wheelsC, and a rear or driving axle D, carrying rear wheels E. On the body Ais mounted a suitable motor F, having its main shaft G provided with aplurality of spaced frictiondisks H, H, and H between which extendfriction-pinions land 1, arranged in such a manner as to take up eitheran intermediate or a non-driving position-that is, to be out of contactwith the said friction-disksor said pinions may be both movedsimultaneously in contact with the inner faces of the frictiondisks H Hor in contact with the opposite faces of the middle friction-disk H forreversing and braking the vehicle, as hereinafter more fully described.The frictionpinions I and I are mounted to slide on and to rotate withshafts J and J, inclined downwardly and rearwardly and carrying at their$erial No. 117,946. (No model.)

lower ends bevel-pinions K K in mesh with bevel gear-wheels K K securedon the driving-axle D. The shafts J and J are journaled at their lowerends in bearings J 2 J carried on the body A, and the upper ends of thesaid shafts are journaled in bearings J J held on arms J J fulcrumed atJ on the body vehicle, preferably on the under side of the seat thereof,as plainly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The lower ends of the arms J J"are pivotally connected with forwardly-extending levers L L, fulcrumedon a support A, forming part of the vehicle-body A, and the forward endsof the said levers L L are pivotally connected by links L L with acrankdisk D, secured on the lower end of a shaft Li extending verticallyand journaled in the bottom of the vehicle-body A. On the upper end ofthe shaft L is secured a foot-lever L adapted to be engaged at its endsby the feet of the chaufieur in charge of the vehicle to impart aswinging motion to the said lever L, either with the rightfoot, wheneverit is desired to run the vehicle forward, or with the left foot, when itis desired to reverse and brake the vehicle, it being, however,understood that when the foot-lever L is in a nored to slidelongitudinally on guideways on the support A, (see Fig. 3,) and the saidcross-head N is pivotally connected by forwardly-exteuding links 0 witharms 0, depending from a shaft 0 extending transversely and journaled insuitable bearings carried on the vehicle-body A. On one end of the shaft0 is secureda speed-changing lever P, having the usual locking-catch P,adapted to engage ,a toothed segment P to lock the lever P in anydesired position. The lever P is under the control of the chauffeur thesame as the lever L for stopping or steering the motor F. (See Fig. 1.)

The operation is as follows: When the motor is running, then the shaft Gis rotated and with it the friction-disks H, H, and H When it is desiredto run the vehicle forward, the chauffeur with the right foot imparts aswinging motion to the lever L for the latter to assume the positionshown in Fig. 3, and thereby the shaft L is turned, and the crank-disk Lby the links L L imparts a swinging motion to the levers L L to swingthe arms J J outwardly from each other to impart a like swinging motionto the shafts J J to move the friction-pinionsI I in contact with theinner faces of the outer disks H H Now the rotary motion of thefriction-disks H II is transmitted by the pinions I I to the shafts J J,which by the bevel-pinions K K imparta rotary motion to the bevelgearwheels K K to turn the driving-axle D and the wheels in thedirection of the arrow a to propel the vehicle forward. When it isdesired to brake the vehicle and reverse the gear, then the chauffeurimparts a swinging motion to the foot-lever L by pressing the left footforward, so that the links L L and disk L impart a reverse swingingmotion to the levers L L and arms J J to swing the shafts J J towardeach other to move the friction-pinions I I in frictional contact withthe middle disk H. The motion of the friction-pinions is thus reversed,and thereby act first as a brake and then to reverse the motion of thegearing to propel the vehicle in a backward direction. When it isdesired to stop the gearing altogether, then the chauffeur swings thelever L into a normal or transverse position, as previously explained,so that the pinions I I assume a non-contacting position between thedisks H H and H H respectively. When it is desired to change the speedof the vehicle when running in either a forward or backward direction,then the chaufieur manipulates the lever'Pthat is, when the lever P isthrown forward then the speed is increased and when the lever P isthrown backward the speed is decreased. When the lever P is thrownforward, it turns the shaft 0 and the arms 0 swing rearwardly to movethe links 0 and cross-head N in a rearward direction,so that thecrosshead pulls the links N N downwardly and rearwardly and with themthe pinions I I to move the latter farther from the axis of the disks HH H and thereby cause the corresponding disks H H or the disk H toimpart a faster rotary motion to the pinions I I. When it is desired todecrease the speed, the chauffeur swings the lever P rearward to reversethe motion of the shaft 0*, arms 0, links 0, cross-head N, and links N Nto shift the pinions I I nearer to the axis of the disks H H H to causethe latter to impart a slower rotary motion to the said pinions, itbeing, however, expressly understood that in both cases the speed of themotor F remains the same.

The bearings J J are constructed to act as fulcrums for the shafts J Jwhen swinging the latter on imparting a swinging motion to the arms JJ", as previously explained, and as the bevel-pinions K K are secured onthe shafts J J adjacent to the said bearings J J it is evident that themesh of the pinions K K with their gear-wheelsK K is not affected thatis, the said pinions and gear-wheels remain in mesh at all times.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In-a driving-gear for automobiles, the combinationwith the driving-axle of a vehicle, of a motor, spaced friction-disks onthe shaft of the motor, shafts having one end geared with thedriving-axle and their other ends mounted in swinging bearings,frictionpinions on the shafts and slidable thereon, means for swingingsaid bearings to move the shafts toward or from each other, a crossheadmounted to slide longitudinally, a connection between the cross-head andpinions, a speed-changing lever, and a connection between said lever andcross-head, as set forth.

2. A driving-gear for automobiles, comprising a driving-axle of avehicle, driven spaced friction disks, laterally movable shafts gearedwith the said axle, frictionpinions on the shafts between the saiddisks, arms mounted to swing and carrying bearings for the said shafts,to shift the latter for moving the friction-pinions in or out of meshwith the friction-disks, pivoted levers having one end pivotallyconnected with the free end of the said arms, a manually-controlledfootlever, and a connection between the said footlever and the otherends of the pivoted levers, as set forth.

3. In a driving-gear for automobiles, the combination with the rearaxle, a motor, and friction-wheels on the shaft of the motor, of shaftshaving their forward ends mounted in swinging bearings and their rearends geared with the axle, means for moving the shafts toward and fromeach other, friction-pinions mounted to turn with but to slide on saidshafts, a cross-head, links connected with the cross-head and the hubsof the friction-pinions, a rock-shaft provided with arms and ahand-lever, and links connecting the crosshead with the arms of saidshaft, as set forth.

4. In a driving-gear for automobiles, the combination with the rearaxle, and a motor, of friction-disks mounted on the shaft of the motor,shafts having their rear ends geared to the rear axle, pivoted arms inwhich the forward ends of the shafts are mounted, friction-pinions onthe shafts, levers pivotally connected with the free ends of the arms, acrank-disk, links connecting the levers with the crank-disk, and afoot-lever on the shaft of the crank-disk, as set forth.

5. In a driving-gear for automobiles, the combination with the rearaxle, and a motor, of friction-disks on the shaft of the motor, shaftshaving their rear ends geared with the axle, movable bearings in whichthe forward ends of the shafts are mounted, friction-pinions mounted toslide on but to turn with the said shafts, means for moving the saidbearings to shift the pinions in and out of contact with the disks, a.sliding cross-head, In testimony whereof I have signed my linksconnected to the cross-head, shifting name to this specification in thepresence of collars engaging the hubs of the pinions and two subscribingwitnesses.

with which the links are connected, a rock- EDWARD RAWSON. 5 shaft,links connecting the cross-head with Witnesses:

the rock-shaft, and a lever for operating the WM. HUNTER,

rock-shaft, as set forth. E. J. HUNTER.

